Judge Samuel R. Stern stands only five feet, two inches in height, weighs not over 125 pounds, and is 75 years of age. But, voice ringing with emotion and eyes flashing, Judge Stern, president of the Washington Bar Association, this week, flung the challenge of a public debate in “the largest hall we can find” at Dr. Walther L. Reinhardt, German Consul, here.
His challenge, first made when he dramatically arose to answer Consul Reinhardt’s attempt to whitewash Germany’s persecution of the Jews at a noon luncheon of the Young Men’s Democratic Club, was repeated in a letter sent to Consul Reihardt.
“After I publicly challenged Consul Reinhardt to meet me in open debate”, Judge Stern said, “I received a letter asking me to meet with him privately, ‘to come to a better understanding.’ If I meet Consul Reinhardt at all, I’ll meet him in the open.
“And if he insists on spreading the gospel of anti-Semitism and seeking to justify Hitler’s treatment of Germany’s Jews, I will be only too glad to drop anything else and make it my business to be on hand to answer every one of his misstatements, just as I did at the Young Men’s Democratic Club.”
The Young Men’s Democratic Club luncheon was thrown into a furore, when, after Consul Reinhardt’s talk, Judge Stern was granted the floor.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
